Wild North America 1846

The news that the British were brutally beaten by the Boers in South Africa reached the Tang Empire in mid-December, less than 10 days before Christmas of 1899.

Emperor Richard and his entourage took a royal train back to the imperial capital Chang'an. When passing through Chicago, they heard this news that was good for the Tang Empire.

Well...this is definitely not about schadenfreude.

Emperor Richard has emphasized many times;

International affairs never occur in isolation and have their own inherent historical entanglements and complex geostrategic contests, with the shadow of great powers behind them.

This is true of European affairs, including the Balkans, the Near East, the Far East, the East Indies, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, as well as the Boer War, which is now reaching its climax.

Kaiser Wilhelm II openly issued a warm congratulatory message for the victory of the Boers. Germany gave the green light to the Boers in South Africa to purchase arms. One after another German merchant ships went to Portuguese Mozambique.

A large amount of goods supporting South Africa were transferred from the seaport here and transferred to shallow-draft inland ships, which could go south along the tributaries of the Zambezi River to the Transvaal. It was the main transportation channel for receiving European material support.

More than 1,700 white German volunteers poured into the two Boer countries of Transvaal and Orange. They brought a large number of weapons, ammunition and medicines and fought side by side with the Boers.

Can we say that there is no trace of Germany here?

This cannot be blamed on the fact that European countries generally opposed the British. The main reason was that the British looked too ugly and bullied the weak in launching the Boer War in South Africa, mainly for the huge reserves of shiny gold and diamonds.

On the issue of the Boers in South Africa, almost all of Europe was against Britain, including France, its old enemy that had been entangled for hundreds of years, and Russia took the opportunity to step on them. What did the British, who had always been arrogant and petty, think?

Only the Tang Empire firmly supported Britain from beginning to end. In the words of Prime Minister Robert Cecil, "The friendship between the two countries has withstood the test of time and has become even more precious..."

The Royal Patent roared all the way to the west. In the luxurious box, Emperor Richard was in a good mood as he watched the latest war situation in South Africa.

On the battlefield in South Africa, the British army literally lost its pants and was beaten so hard by the Boers that their faces were swollen.

In all major battles from mid-October to the present, the British army was completely defeated.

Especially in the Battle of Ladysmith that broke out on October 30, the Boers suffered an astonishing battle loss ratio of 162:1, which was simply a one-sided massacre.

When the news came out, the world was shocked!

Before the Battle of Ladysmith,

At the end of October, 20,000 British troops led by General Redvers Buller, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force in South Africa, successfully arrived in Cape Town and immediately launched a large-scale counterattack.

Lieutenant General Methuen was responsible for lifting the siege of Kimberley Town by the Boers on the western front, Lieutenant General French attacked the Orange Free State on the central line, and General Buller led the main force to relieve the siege of Ladysmith on the eastern front.

The British reinforcements moved quickly and arrived in the theater only a few days later.

General Buller led the main force to launch a fierce attack on the cloth army entrenched there at Colenso, a small station southwest of Ladysmith, in an attempt to forcefully cross the Tugela River and penetrate directly into the Ladysmith area.

The forces under the command of General Buller included the British 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th brigades, totaling 16,000 men, in addition to four regiments of light cavalry, and three squadrons of lancers composed of colonial cavalry.

The artillery has 5 artillery batteries, 30 cannons, and is supported by 16 naval 12-pounder guns and 4.7-inch guns. Including cavalry and artillery, the total strength is 22,000, giving it an absolute advantage in strength.

The Boer troops who participated in the Battle of Colenso included militia groups from eight regions including Johannesburg, Heidelberg, Krugersdorp, Freiheid, and Utrecht, troops from the Orange Free State, and Johannesburg

and Swaziland's white police force, totaling 3,500 people.

In addition, the Boers also have a 120mm German Krupp howitzer, a 75mm Krupp field gun, two 75mm French Schneider-Crusseau cannon, and a 37mm Maxim rapid-fire cannon.

Judging from the strength of the British and Boer armies, the ratio is about 7:1, and the artillery is nine times that of the Boers. The British army has an unquestionable overall advantage.

However, due to the command errors of the British commander, which led to the dispersion of troops and rigid tactics, the British army suffered a disastrous defeat in this battle, with 1,139 people killed, 250 missing, and 10 cannons lost.

The Boer army suffered only 8 killed and 30 wounded.

During the same period as the Battle of Ladysmith, the British army also suffered disgraceful defeats at Kimberley on the western front and Stormberg on the central line, with more than 2,800 casualties. This was known as a "dark week" in the history of the British Army.

”.

In this "dark week", the British army suffered a comprehensive defeat on the eastern, central, and western fronts. The total number of officers and soldiers killed exceeded 4,000, and there were countless injuries. After a hasty retreat, a large amount of logistical equipment was discarded.

Admiral Buller, who had just arrived in South Africa for more than a month, was forced to resign as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force due to an unprecedented defeat and sadly returned to London.

It is completely conceivable that Britain is about to usher in an unprecedented storm of public opinion, with all kinds of weird derogatory remarks and ridicules. Kaiser Wilhelm II may go crazy with joy.

Such a disastrous defeat inevitably shook the British Empire's position as the world's hegemon, and the splendid glory surrounding Britain was eclipsed and became no longer formidable.

All in all

Like a sharp knife, it pierced deeply into the chest of the proud and sensitive British people. While suffering unprecedented humiliation, it aroused the overwhelming anger of the British Empire.

OK, great!

Emperor Richard had a certain mentality of watching the excitement and not being afraid of big troubles. He put aside the military information from South Africa with a smile, took a sip of the hot tea on the table, and looked at the beautiful scenery receding outside the car window in a comfortable mood.

.

On the vast Great Plains of central North America

There are many beautiful villages and towns, criss-crossed by roads, and among the rivers, forests and mountains, there are large tracts of farmland and pastures, with flocks of cattle and sheep like clouds.

This fertile black land is the most important agricultural product production base in the Tang Empire. It has begun to promote agricultural mechanization operations extensively, but it is at the top level in the world.

Large farms, coupled with the support of agricultural machinery and chemical fertilizer production, have greatly increased agricultural output, with bumper harvests for 17 consecutive years, and record high yields every year.

No food, no stability, no work, no wealth.

The Tang Empire almost monopolized the vast black land of North America. The agricultural output of grain, cotton, meat, oil, sugar, tobacco, natural rubber and other rich categories basically accounted for more than 60% of the world's agricultural market, with a few even as high as 8~

90%.

For example, for cane sugar, the Tang Empire owned the world's three largest traditional cane sugar producing areas: Hawaii, Cuba, Luzon Islands and the East Indies. Related cane sugar production accounted for more than 90% of the world market.

After decades of development, the Chicago Agricultural Futures Exchange has become the decisive market that dominates the pricing of agricultural products in the world, and its role is irreplaceable.

Each category of crops on the Chicago Agricultural Futures Exchange has four prices, namely the delivery price at New York Port on the East Coast, the delivery price at Los Angeles on the West Coast, the delivery price in Nicaragua in Central America, and the delivery price at Port of Glory in South America.

The price of the same pound of high-quality beef varies slightly depending on the delivery port.

As for shipping to major cities in Europe or East Asia, shipping costs and customs duties of each country must be added. Basically, you can use an abacus to add more accurate figures.

There are hundreds of thousands of market-making merchants formed around the Chicago Agricultural Futures Exchange alone. These are all very powerful merchants in international bulk grain trade and dominate the basic pattern of world grain trade.

For example, when news came of the disastrous defeat of the British army in the Boer War in South Africa, grain, oil and meat prices in the Chicago agricultural futures market rose in response to the news, and the upward momentum was quite strong.

Its internal logic is

After the British were brutally slapped in the face in South Africa, they would inevitably increase their troops again, which would bring about strong demand for grain, soybeans, meat, eggs, and milk, driving prices to continue to rise.

It has to be said that businessmen in the world grain trade market have extremely keen sense of smell and very accurate judgment.

In the original history

After the British Empire suffered an unprecedented defeat in South Africa, it immediately sent a large number of troops to South Africa from colonies around the world. Australia, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and the Near East mobilized a steady stream of troops like the confluence of hundreds of rivers.

In just a few months, the British army in South Africa grew rapidly from 170,000 to 260,000, and exceeded 400,000 in the remaining year, reaching a peak of 420,000.

This brings huge demand for materials, which is enough to affect the fluctuations of the world grain market.

late 19th century

The British soldiers are a noble army known to the world. They are backed by the powerful British Empire. Their logistical support and supplies are the best among the armies of all countries in the world. There is no shortage of meat, custard, cigarettes and chocolate.

The delicious Scottish sheep and the indispensable Scotch whiskey are all transported thousands of miles from the United Kingdom to South Africa, as well as South American beef, North American refined flour, soybeans, toffee, various cans, coffee, and cocoa, which are in great demand

.

The British army only consumed it themselves. The key was that on the South African battlefield, the British also acted as the captain of the transportation brigade and supplied a large amount of logistical supplies to the Boers.

After the British massively increased their troops in South Africa, the Boers quickly changed their style of head-on confrontation and turned to mobile and flexible guerrilla warfare to constantly harass the British army's logistics lines.

Take a shot and change places.

Whenever the British army sent large troops to the battlefield, they only saw the messy corpses of British soldiers. As for their weapons and supplies, they had long since disappeared into the vast expanse of land along with the retreating Boer cavalry.

superior.

At first, the British generals scoffed at these petty quarrels and did not pay much attention to them.

over time

Such raids by the Boer guerrillas are becoming more and more frequent, and the losses are increasing. The British reconnaissance squads, logistics supply troops, and wounded soldiers sent to rear hospitals, these British units with weak combat effectiveness are frequently attacked.

attack.

The number of casualties of the British army was also rising linearly every day, and it had already far exceeded the losses on the frontal battlefield.

Several important supply lines of the British army were visited by Boer guerrillas almost every day, causing heavy losses in supply materials. In disguise, they acted as the "transportation brigade captain".

The precious supplies transported thousands of miles just changed hands and became the spoils of war for the Boer guerrillas, greatly enhancing their continuous combat capabilities.

This not only caused a serious financial burden on the British government, but also seriously affected the morale of British officers and soldiers on the front line.

Looking at the receding scenery outside the car window, Emperor Richard knew that all this would happen again, and the British losses would be much more serious than in history.

Because of the butterfly effect, the number of volunteers traveling to South Africa from Europe has more than doubled than in history.

Many white people who were interested in going to South Africa to join the war received funding from civil society and happily embarked on the journey.

There are several secret material gathering places in South Africa. When the Boers are in trouble of running out of ammunition and food, they will always be discovered at the right time, which will inevitably bring great help.

This will undoubtedly make the British anxious and even more angry with the Dutch or Germans. It is absolutely good news for the Tang Empire.

The so-called "taking chestnuts from the fire" is roughly like this.

Thinking of these always made Emperor Richard feel happy and felt an invisible joy of stealing a chicken.